July 30, 2009

THE CHRONICLE rightly took on the birthers today, but, as usual, the editors' understanding of conservative thinkers is like one of those maps on the frontispiece of a science fiction novel: an imaginary land. Said the Chronicle:

When he opened the drawers, the robber filled his baggy pants with $2,100 in cash and before he fled, he grabbed a $900 Hewelitt Packard laptop cumputer, a $500 cell phone and three cartons of Kool cigarettes.

July 28, 2009

IT'S NOT surprising that the much-ballyhooed "economic stimulus" hasnt' done much stimulating . . . . The program crafted by Obama and the Democratic Congress wasn't engineered to maximize its economic impact. It was mostly a political exercise, designed to claim credit for any recovery, shower benefits on favored constituencies and signal support for fashionable causes.

OBAMA says that his START will be a great boon, setting an example to enable us to better pressure North Korea and Iran to give up their nuclear programs. That a man of Obama's intelligence can believe such nonsense is beyond comprehension. . . . The very notion that Kim Jong Il or Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will suddenly abjure nukes because of yet another U.S.- Russian treaty is comical.

July 27, 2009

IF YOU love late-60s rhythm and blues, rent "Stax/Volt Revue: Live in Norway 1967."

It's a badly made film -- really badly made -- of a concert by Stax/Volt stars of the time, headlined by Otis Redding. The black-and-white cinematography is awful and the sound recording worse.

But, oh, the music! And the sight of these guys -- in 1964-style Beatle suits -- working a small stage. And the Norwegian kids: very white, very stoned, very not quite sure of the rules for cool head-bobbing.